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Although Microsoft Word is a blank slate when you open a new document, the software can quickly appear to have a mind of its own when you’re working on multi-paged documents. If you brought a bunch of files together in one Word document, Word may think you want to run them together. Separate them quickly in the same or divided files.

The Page is All the Rage

The fastest way to separate multi-page documents is to force Word to your will. Scroll to the section where the first stack has occurred, where two documents run together. Place your cursor after the last character, such as a period in a sentence. Press the “Ctrl-Enter” keys together, which forces a page break. Your documents remain stacked within the same file, but now they are separated. If you prefer using the ribbon, after your cursor is in the right spot, click the Insert tab, then click the “Page Break” button in the Pages section of the ribbon.

Stack ‘em Up

When two is better than one, you’ve got to do a bit of creative cutting and pasting in Word. Open the stacked document. Position your cursor at the beginning of the first document. Press and hold down the left mouse button and drag until the entire first document is highlighted, up to where the second document begins. Press the “Ctrl-C” keys to copy the document. Open a new Word document and press “Ctrl-V” to paste in the copied section. You may need to adjust some formatting or spacing. Save this document with a new file name, then close it. Shift back to the original stacked document. If the copied section is still highlighted, press the “Delete” key. Otherwise, re-highlight it and delete it. Re-save the file with a new name reflecting this section of the separated document. If there are additional documents stacked in, separate and save them like the first, with new file names for each separation.

About the Author

Fionia LeChat is a technical writer whose major skill sets include the MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher), Photoshop, Paint, desktop publishing, design and graphics. LeChat has a Master of Science in technical writing, a Master of Arts in public relations and communications and a Bachelor of Arts in writing/English.